On a recent trip to Virginia, I made a stop in Historic Williamsburg and found inspiration in the beauty of simple forms.  The town stands in preservation of our national heritage - something humble and hand-crafted, like this general store and the goods within.

Inherent colors are muted but rich, and the raw state of the materials invites a tactile experience.  The elements of craftsmanship and quality of material will add interest and a sense of history to any space.  For us, this often means finding a few key vintage items – the piece itself will tell a story that brings your space to life.

Pebble mosaics continue making appearances in tile showrooms and shower floors across the country, but this is one fresh trend with a long history.  Architectural use of stones and pebbles spans across centuries and cultures, and is both classic and versatile in a variety of applications.

This walkway photographed on a Mexican vacation is composed of natural pebbles embedded in concrete.  Notice the combination of colors used to create a repeating diamond, layering visual pattern in a tactile material.  Beautiful!

We love to include such natural elements to bring texture and authenticity to a space.  In Mgroup Studio, blue river rocks are set loosely into a recessed channel in the conference room floor and backlit with blue LED light for a watery mood.

Jean Paul Gaultier’s debut exhibition is on an international tour and finishing it’s first of two stops in the United States, at the Dallas Museum of Art this weekend.  I visited the exhibition last night and gained a wealth of knowledge and inspiration from the couturier’s life and design perception.

I was intrigued and motivated to learn that Gaultier’s achievement of “haute couture” status in the early 1970’s (an elite group of Parisian fashion houses producing the absolute highest quality, one of a kind hand-made clothing) began in awe as a young boy sitting at his grandmother’s television and was the result of self-taught impetus and discipline.  Equally impressive is the amount of pain-staking time put into each design, often spending over 200 man-hours on a single garment.

Gaultier uses his fashion and costume design as an artistic outlet to express his view of the world, with as much passion and conviction as any moody starving artist.  This is exemplified in his repeated use of corsets as commentary on the societal restraints placed on women during his formative years.

Jean Paul Gaultier is iconic in the fashion and design industries, not only because of his pop-culture visibility and provocative style, but because of who he is – a visionary with the creativity and ingenuity to bring his dreams to life.

While we applaud the surge in popularity for open-concept floor plans, great rooms and multi-use spaces, there can a danger in becoming over-simplified, too cold and stark, or even dull.  Architectural details or furnishings can be used to cozy up the room or aid in functionality without building walls that divide and limit the space.

Here at Mgroup’s studio, this industrial screen is suspended vertically from the ceiling along with simple drapery panels, creating layers of visual translucency, which add interest and discovery to the loft-style.  Obscuring the view in one direction actually gives a greater feeling of the studio’s openness by subtly defining areas to bring the large space into human scale.

In this movie production studio, Misty designed and implemented a dramatic room divider crafted from factory metal tubing and parts.  The architectural divider not only makes a bold design statement, but identifies the reception area without isolating the lobby.

Over the holidays, I embarked on a journey into my jewelry chest, mending clasps and rediscovering forgotten treasures.  I came across a malachite necklace my dad had brought back from Africa– a beautiful and sentimental piece, but one I never wear.  Rather than shelve it away again, I decided to unstring it and pair it with a gold and tan tortoise-like bead, turning one unworn necklace into two stylish and usable strands – one for my mom and one for me.

My vintage sofa recovered in pin-stripe fabric

Whether a piece of jewelry or a piece of furniture, something of value and quality is timeless – it may just need recovered in a fresh fabric or a new detail to restore it to life!